Texas begins cleanup after Hurricane Dolly

HARLINGEN, Texas -- Residents across southern Texas slogged through knee-deep muddy waters, tiptoed around downed power lines and dug through debris Thursday, but were thankful that Hurricane Dolly didn't pack the wallop they had feared.

Downed power lines remained the greatest danger, and officials urged people to stay home one more day "unless it's life or death." One person in Matamoros, Mexico, died from electrocution after walking past a power line on the ground.

Residents picked up the pieces of their houses and businesses blown apart by the storm. But as dry skies spread over the region, they were struck by relief that the storm didn't take many lives. Even so, there will be substantial cleanup: President Bush declared south Texas a disaster area to release federal funding to 15 counties, and insurance estimators put the losses at $750 million.

By Thursday afternoon, with the storm's maximum sustained winds blowing around 35 mph, forecasters downgraded Dolly to a tropical depression. The storm was expected to break up by today, and was centered about 35 miles south of Eagle Pass at 4 p.m.

Rain and wind from Dolly probably doomed much of the cotton crop in Texas' Rio Grande Valley. About 92,000 acres of cotton in the region was awaiting harvest but driving rains and high winds knocked bolls to the ground, making them unsalvageable, Texas Agri Life Extension agent Rod Santa Ana said. Sorghum acres damaged by rain in early July also could be doomed, he said.

After crashing ashore on South Padre Island midday Wednesday, Dolly meandered north, leaving towns on the northern tip of the Rio Grande Valley with a surprise. Officials had feared the Rio Grande levees would breach, but the storm veered from its predicted path and they held strong.

The storm dumped as much as a foot of rain in places and brought 100 mph winds.

A remnant on Thursday blew several roofs off houses and businesses on San Antonio's south side, about 300 miles northwest of where the storm made landfall. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and the National Weather Service sent a storm survey team to determine whether it was a tornado or strong winds.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who flew over the area Thursday with Sen. John Cornyn, noted possible flooding over the next five days.

Down by the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, the city that expected the worst had some of the least to fear.

Residents in the Cameron Park colonia cleared their yards of shingles and tree debris while mosquitoes feasted. But homes were still standing, and residents were thankful the damage wasn't so bad.

"I thought it was going to be worse than it was," Moses Izaguirre said.

A group of Harlingen residents battled a flaming live power line lying on the driveway between two homes. Neighbors rushed to bang on doors and call for people to get out.

"Stay out of the water!" a man yelled at children playing in the muddy mix. But in a sign of returning normalcy, a firetruck arrived minutes after a call to 911.

On South Padre Island, which endured the worst of Dolly's wrath, power could be out for another day, said town spokeswoman Melissa Zamora. A 9 p.m. curfew was set for the second night in row, and the National Guard and FEMA were distributing ice, water and food.

Residents and visitors recalled a wild ride.

Bubba Zittle, 22, rode out Hurricane Dolly with five friends on a 65-foot double-decker party boat moored at the south end of South Padre Island.

"But we weren't partying," Zittle said. "It was throwing us around like a beanbag," The thrashing began at 9 a.m. and eased up at 8 p.m., he said, with eight-foot waves in the Laguna Madre, the strip of water between the mainland and the island, crashing over the bow.

North Texas residents Becky Wacasey and her husband, Charles, rode out the storm in their room at the South Padre Island Beach Resort hotel, which had many of its sliding glass doors blown out. Drapes flapped in the gulf breeze, and it appeared some tourists had barricaded broken windows by standing box springs in the openings.

"We kept saying 'where's the eye?' because that's when we were going to leave but the eye never came," Wacasey said. "We thought it was just going to be a little tropical storm."

Across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, power was restored to large parts of Brownsville's sister city, and Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez said the lights would be on by the end of the day.

Gas stations and factories reopened as about 2,500 police and soldiers patrolled to prevent looting while many of the 13,000 people who had taken shelter returned home.

During the course of the storm, authorities rescued about 30 families from high water in Cameron County and power, including to the 911 emergency call system, remained out to about 60 percent of customers in Hidalgo County.

"The power grid is not doing too well," said Hidalgo County spokeswoman Cari Lambrecht.

The last hurricane to hit the U.S. was the fast-forming Humberto, which came ashore in southeast Texas last September.

The busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season is usually in August and September. So far this year, there have been four named storms, two of which became hurricanes. Federal forecasters predict a total of 12 to 16 named storms and six to nine hurricanes this season.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Brownsville, Betsey Blaney in Lubbock and Mark Walsh in Matamoros, Mexico, contributed to this report.